My Grandmother's & Grandfather's Family

I just felt like sharing this old photo of my grandparents with their six children. I spent the afternoon at the Pop Laval Gallery and enjoyed it so much! It got me thinking back to the old photos I have of my family, and I wanted to share it with all of you!

:(

I admit it, I'm a little down today. I found out one of my very best friends, who already has moved away from us to Washington state several years ago, will be moving to Hawaii. While I'm happy for her family to have this adventure, visiting her in Washington was already hard enough, and now I fear I will never be able to visit her again. Her kids and mine were very close in age, and I love her with all my heart, even though most of our contact is electronic these days. When we see each other, it's as if we've never been apart.

They moved around the same time that three other families I loved relocated. While I still have good friends here in Fresno, I miss my friends a ton. It seems to be a habit that God has, to relocate families I love. I know it "forces" me to broaden my circle and find new people to become friends with. Yet it's hard for me too...I should have been born in an earlier century, when people stayed close and seldom relocated. I like having people I love close about me. Since I don't have any family in this area, my friends' families are my surrogates.

I'm holding out hope. Maybe my friends won't move to Hawaii...maybe it's a joke! If not, though, I wish them well.

Late Nights, Sleepy Eyes

Laine has been rehearsing for "Once Upon a Mattress," the middle school play she's participating in. It's an adaptation of the Princess and the Pea. This poor child is in school from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., then at practice until 10 p.m. this week. I let her sleep in an hour past her usual 6:30 and drive her to school instead of making her take the bus.

Her performances next week are all day time performances for the school. Then beginning on the weekend of the 29th, she will begin public performances. In one version, she plays the "bird" and in the other, she is a lady of the court. She's excited, nervous, and sleepy.

This is Fun! (And Scary!)

It's my first day on the Fresno State Campus for classes this spring. Man, it's been a long time since I've been in college. I was by far the oldest person in my class today, by at least 14 years. The professor is about the same age as Erin. Geez, talk about feeling old!

The kids were all encouraging me this morning, excited that I had a backpack full of books and my laptop and the lunch I packed. They said they were proud of me for doing this. Heck, I'm proud of me for doing this! I have to admit, though...it's terrifying at the same time. Shhhh....don't tell anyone.

Yet when I sat down in the desk, syllabus in hand, and began to listen to the professor rattle on, I realized I was having fun. Even when he announced that we had to do a 2000 word term paper, I wasn't phased. My brain immediately converted that to about ten pages (thanks to my publishing background), and I thought, okay. I can do that. At least I know that technical writing is one of my strengths.

I only have three classes. One of them is a 5 unit class though, so it will be a tough one. I am taking California's Earth Systems, Psychological Research Methods, and Abnormal Psychology. I also have an advocacy class, but it's essentially spending one day at the capitol advocating for a human welfare cause and is only one unit.

I know the timing is right for me to do this. I've tried to get back to school for almost two years, but the timing just wasn't working out. I've prayed about it and I feel very confident that this is what the Lord wants me to do. I'm just not sure how I'm going to feed my family and pay the bills at the same time. I'm just putting my faith in him that he will bring the right opportunities. I hope the Lord blesses my efforts!!

((Yawn))

Kitchen cleaned, floors swept, living room tidied, two loads of laundry folded, another one in the washing machine and a fourth in the dryer. It's 12:30 and I have to be up in 5 hours. Can I sleep now?

My Creative and Wacky Daughter

Life is never dull at the Cavanaugh home. Kelly came up with this lovely piece of creativity and posted it on facebook. The guy in the mask looks scary!

The Urge to Purge!

In the car today, the kids and I were talking about money and houses. Joe wanted to know if some homeless people liked being homeless. I told him about a story I read in a newspaper about a man who absolutely preferred being homeless. He slept in his tent wherever he could, worked a little day job, had very few possessions. For some of us, that would be a nightmare.

I started thinking out loud about it...no rent/mortgage, no utilities, no home maintenance, no car, no gas, insurance or maintenance...If I cut those things out of my life, I could live on a lot less money! The kids were concerned that I was suggesting that we start living on the streets. As if. While I at times dreamed of a nomadic lifestyle, it never crossed my mind once I had children.

Still, I reminded the kids that money is just green pieces of paper with dead presidents on it, and while we need it, we need to keep our perspective about money and things we buy with money. Our basic needs of food, water, shelter and love can be met without a lot of expense. It's when we add all that other stuff in there that our budget begins to inflate. I need internet service...I need a new car...I need a computer...I need enough clothing to clothe a small nation (or for some women, shoes). Baaahhh! I say, Minimize! Economize! Don't buy unless it's a real need. And if it's a need, maybe you can trade something you have but don't need for something you don't have but do need!

I'm in a phase of purging and simplifying. I'm not done yet...not even close. But the "noise" of all the things around me and the "stress" of keeping them orderly drowns all the creativity and energy out of me. I want it back!!

Intersections

I've been spending the past few days drafting grant requests for the Senior Living Network, and this morning, I went to the Alzheimer's Awareness Walk/Run committee meeting. I'm always impressed with the passion that these individuals have for their work. With all of the diversity of our personality quirks, backgrounds, responsibilities, etc, we have a really great team who works together and gets things accomplished.

The emails fly back and forth, people meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner to make the event happen to bless people's lives. People commit to getting things done and it DOES get done!

Sometimes, when I'm wallowing, I think I have so little opportunity to do much that's worthwhile. And yet being around ladies and gentlemen like these reminds me that we can be worthwhile in all that we do. Each life intersects others for a purpose, and where we do get the chance to make a difference, that difference can mean the world.

Little Miracles

I feel very humbled and grateful today. Since I signed up for classes over a month ago, I've been worrying about the schedule once college starts. One of the classes I thought I had to take started at 8 a.m. My morning routine is that I take Kelly to seminary at 6:40, go home and finish getting the kids ready to pick her up by 7:30. I then drop Kelly off at 7:40 at Hoover, Joe off at 7:50 at Tenaya, and Johnny and Laine off at 8:00 at Gibson to catch the buses for their respective schools. I couldn't see how I was going to get to a class that started at 8 am, and I've been thinking about it and praying about it.

Yesterday, out of the clear blue sky, someone at Fresno State called me and told me that they were reviewing my classes as a transfer student, and noticed that I had signed up for a class that met a requirement that I'd already completed at Fresno City College. Hooray! I don't have to take the 8 am class and can take a class that meets another requirement instead! And it starts at 9:30 instead of at 8:00. How blessed can I be?

I had been frustrated while trying to sign up for classes because it kept saying that I needed to meet a certain requirement and take an assessment test. Well, based on the conversation with the lady at Fresno State, I also discovered that this problem has been rectified, and I can now sign up for upper division classes and do not have to take Calculus or the assessment test.

Both of these things are "little miracles" to me, tender mercies of the Lord that demonstrate that even in the face of my own helplessness, he can make things happen that bless my life and let me know that he loves me.

I feel this is further spiritual confirmation of my decision to go back to school, and God blessing me because of my efforts to do what I felt he had asked of me. I hope he will similarly bless me in my efforts to get my business off and running so that I can continue to attend classes and be a mom.

Meatless Month

Last month, Kelly and I were talking about our nutritional habits. All the kids love meat, and even though I try to use it prudently and minimally (you'd be surprised the number of meals I can get from one chicken!), I still find that we spend an alarmingly high portion of our food budget on meat products, and especially with the prices of meat rising, it seems prudent to make some further changes. The kids and I agreed to try to make it the whole month of January without meat.

I've been thinking about this for a while. The word of wisdom in our religion tells us to eat meat sparingly. I'm not sure what "sparingly" is or if our use of it would be considered so. In addition, I've been considering switching to organic meat products anyway, because I know there are really high rates of antibiotics and other awful things being fed to the animals we end up eating. And meat handling practices are questionable. I raise my own chickens for eggs for that very reason. If we make it through the month, we will add small portions of organic meat products back into our diet.

Already, I've found there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm from Kelly, who suggested it in the first place, about menu planning. And the kids keep talking about how many days it will be until they can have meat again! I chuckle and know that they will come to appreciate healthier eating from this month ahead of us. In the meantime, I find I'm having to think harder about what to make every day. Saturday, we had bean and rice burritos (the pinto beans I made turned out SO good!!), and Sunday we had potato soup. Tonight we're having Cajun dirty rice, steamed broccoli, and home made rolls with salad. I'll be needing a lot of ideas!!